Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 17th January 2025
Date: 17th Jan 2025 @ 12:23pm
Junior Safety Officers
A big well done to our Junior Safety Officers, Ava and Frankie, who shared the latest bulletin for January in Collective Worship this morning, with lots of important safety messages. I have attached it below if you would like to have a look and share the messages again with your child. They also launched their latest competition – colouring for KS1 and a quiz for KS2. The entry sheets went home yesterday and the last date for entries is next Friday 24th January. Good luck!
Illness
It is that time of year when so many people are catching lots of different bugs that are going around. With some of these, it is important that your child stays at home to avoid passing the illness around but there are others that they are perfectly fine to come to school with. I am re-sharing a link that gives you an idea of some common illnesses and whether you should keep your child at home or send them in to school: Is My Child too Ill for School?
Attendance
As always, we are looking for attendance to be at least 96%. Here is a rundown of each class' attendance this week and it is looking really positive - thank you!
Hatchmere: 93.81%
Sandymere: 99.05%
Delamere: 93.33%
Oakmere: 99.20%
Linmere: 96.54%
Blakemere: 97.69%
Well done to Oakmere for the best attendance this week, but a special mention to Sandymere who are just just a little bit behind them!
OSJ PTA Updates
Our PTA are holding their next meeting tonight (Friday 17th January) at The Gate pub at 7pm and will be planning lots of fabulous activities to raise money to support all the children in school – please do go along if you are able as all are welcome.
They have also asked me to share the following message:
'The PTA are looking for donations of old devices to raise funds for new school iPads. If you have any old devices that you are willing to donate, please drop off in the school office, with make and model, storage capacity if known and any faults listed and the PTA will do the rest! Phones, tablets, laptops, smart watches, gaming consoles and even old gaming controllers, we'll take it, raise money and save the planet too!
Funds raised from this campaign will be earmarked for the purchase of a new class set of iPads.
Thank you for your support in advance,
From the OSJ PTA.'
#WakeUpWednesday
With 22% of its billion-strong userbase being between the ages of 13 and 17, the popularity of TikTok among the younger generation is indisputable. Providing entertainment in the form of a stream of short-form video content while allowing its users to post videos of their own, the app has skyrocketed to prominence over the last few years, becoming a fixture in young people’s digital lives.
Of course, with a platform as popular and gargantuan as TikTok, it can be intimidating trying to figure out how best to safeguard children and young people using the app. That’s why National Online Safety releasing our brand-new guide to TikTok, detailing the main online safety concerns and suggesting strategies to reduce these risks for the app’s younger users.
Free Adult Course Writing Course
If you are interested in some support with your reading and writing, I have received some information with regards to a ‘Words for Life’ course taking place in Northwich which is a free course for anyone over the age of 19. Please take a look at the flyer below for more details.
Winter Safety
I have also received some information from the Safeguarding Team as to how to keep children safer over the winter period. Please see the attached information below.
Absence During Term Time – Reminder
As I have shared a number of times previously, there have been some changes to the way that Penalty Notices are issued for absences during term time. Penalty Notices are issued for irregular attendance, with days off here and there throughout the term including holidays.
The new National Framework for Penalty includes:
- A Penalty Notice must be considered for 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period – these days do not have to be all at the same time, they can be a couple of days here and a couple of days there; they can be a combination of a couple of days holiday and a couple of days absence at other times too.
- An increase to the amount of a Penalty Notice is now £160 if paid within 28 days, and £80 if paid within 21 days. This fine is issued to each parent separately for each child, so both parents receive the £80 fine, meaning that for one child it equals £160 (£80 for Mum and £80 for Dad) if both parents take the child.
- A second Penalty Notice could be issued to the same parent for the same child within a rolling 3 year period being charged at a higher rate of £160 with no option for this second offence to be discharged at the lower rate of £80.
- A national limit of 2 penalty notices that can be issued to a parent for the same child within a rolling 3 year period, so at the 3rd (or subsequent) offence(s) another tool will need to be considered (such as prosecution or one of the other attendance legal interventions).
School Dinners
School dinners cost £3 per day, £15 per week. Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 receive free meals as part of the government’s Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) scheme. Dinner money must be paid in advance via School Spider.
If you are in receipt of benefits and think that you may be entitled to free school meals, please click here for more information and support and how to apply. It is very important to apply for free schools meals whatever year your child is in, even if you receive the UIFSM in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, as the school receives a sum of extra money to further help support your child and their education.
Confirmed Dates for the Spring Term 2025 – new dates highlighted
Dinner Week 3
Tuesday 21st January: Year 5 Fire Escape to Safety with Cheshire Fire and Rescue
Wednesday 22nd January: Governors visiting school for the afternoon
Wednesday 29th January: Blakemere to visit Winsford Library
Wednesday 5th February: Linmere to visit Winsford Library
Tuesday 11th February: Pupil Consultation Evening 4pm – 6pm
Wednesday 12th February: Oakmere visit to Winsford Library
Thursday 13th February: Pupil Consultation Evening 3.15pm – 5.15pm
Friday 14th February: School closes for half term at 3pm
Monday 24th February: INSET day – school closed
Tuesday 25th February: school opens at 8.35am
Wednesday 26th February: Delamere visit to Winsford Library
Wednesday 5th March: Sandymere visit to Winsford Library
Wednesday 12th March: Hatchmere visit to Winsford Library
Monday 31st March – Wednesday 2nd April: Year 2 and 3 Residential to Robinwood
Friday 4th April: Easter Service in St. John’s Church at 9.15am. All welcome.
Friday 4th April: School closes for Easter at 2pm
Have a lovely weekend.
Take care,
Mrs E Snowdon